collection1b

June 09, 2015

Parker Model Numbers, 2

, the second series.

[Posted on L&P on Oct 19, and 22, 2006, Sept 29, 2007, and expanded and revised in 2015.] My first thread on L&P, “Vintage Pen Repair Tools”, was about a box of pen repair shop tools and parts that I found in 1993. I wrote mostly about the pen repair tools, but I also mentioned that there were “long pen boxes and envelopes full of mint repair parts...straight from the various pen company repair-part departments, some in little envelopes with the part numbers written on them”. There are surviving Parker Repair Parts Price Lists from 1937, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1948, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, and 1980, but only the ones from 1944 and on use the same type of part numbers. These Parker part numbers usually take the form xxx-xxx, with two three-digit numbers separated by a dash. I figured out that the first three digits stand for the pen model, and the second three digits stand for the type of part. Hence, the number 295-165 stands for the Parker 51 nib, and 760-270 stands for the Parker 45 nib unit assembly. The earliest model number I could find on my envelopes was 221, which was for a Sub-Deb Vac clip, and later models had numbers such as 411 for the Junior Vac, and 343, 601, and 626, all for the Parker 51, 410 for the Televisor and the Junior Vac, 576 for the Parker 21 pencil, 607 and 615 for the Parker 21 pen, 620 for the Jotter ballpoint, 626 for the Parker Super 21, 653 for Parker 61, 673 for the Parker 41, 809 for the Eversharp Super E, and 840 for the Parker 19. In the early, pre-Duofold era, the model numbers seemed to refer to one model, but with many styles allowed within that number, and in the later period, there were many style numbers involved in the make-up of one model. It wasn’t just a model number, but was also a style, and finish number, so in some earlier versions of these lists I had taken to calling them “Model And Style Numbers”. Some early models were available as eyedroppers and self fillers, in long and short versions, with turban top and safety caps, and in the baby size, and the filling system, size of nib, and type of cap didn’t matter to the number. And the later models were sometimes put together using some minor parts from several existing earlier models as well as some major parts from a new number. You’ll see what I mean when you look at the price lists. I still need to fill in the numbers for the pens from the late 1920s and 30s, but I’ll take anything. It all helps for cross-referencing purposes. For instance, the 1958 and 1960 repair parts manuals still have some parts for Vacs listed because they were re-used on the early models of the 51s. And many parts, such as bushing rings and cap-jewel screws, etc., were re-used on many different models, so it’s as if some pen parts were cross-pollinated. There is no single number for most of the later pens. I don’t know whether the model numbers lasted until the Parker 75, and I’m curious to find out when the numbering system petered out, and when it was discontinued. By the time of the 1980 parts price list, the part numbers had been transformed into double-hyphenated, 7-digit numbers that started with a single digit followed by two triplets, like so, x-xxx-xxx. The 1948 parts price list is the first one to partially bridge the gap between the early pens and the later pens through the Duofolds and the Vacumatics. It was only because these pens were still being used by some diehards that Parker had to continue to make parts with which to service and repair them. Here’s a picture of General MacArthur still using a Duofold in 1945, his wife’s Red Duofold Junior. The 1948 list also makes it explicit that the replacement part numbers for the Duofold nibs and feeds are actually the part numbers for the Senior Vac Maxima arrow nibs and comb feeds, minus the tube in the Vac feed assemblies. But where were the model numbers for the Duofolds, Patricians, Pastels, Moires, Vacumatics, Challengers, and the various depression pens? Perhaps there were none. There are three lists from this free-for-all period of the 1920s and 1930s that were pointed out to me by three separate pen researchers. John Danza brought to my attention a group of model numbers for #20 and #23 Jack Knife Safety Button-Filler and Eyedropper pens and matching mechanical pencils. The numbers are from the 1921 Parker catalogue, and they are a sparse, sporadic series of about 40 numbers scattered between 101 and 516 for the different types of gold, or silver, or plated overlays. But the numbers don’t seem to fit in to any kind of scheme but their own. Derek Lepper posted a list of Parker Duofold catalogue numbers, but these were just the color designations from the 1927-29 catalogues. I have seen similar lists of numbers for Duofolds, Challengers, and Vacumatics, but Derek’s list adds the True Blue and Depression pen numbers as well. It must be some sort of separate numbering scheme used in the wholesale catalogues sent out to the dealers. This catalogue numbering system constitutes yet another numbering scheme from this period that is not compatible with the other two major numbering schemes, which still seem to me like they could be continuous and compatible with one another. Where the early model numbers leave off, the later parts numbers seem to pick up and carry on. Well, it seemed so until I saw the two lists that I got from Daniel Zazove, a “Parker Pen Co. Model Identification” list for Duofolds, Vacumatics, Sacless Duofolds, and Challengers, and a Vacumatics list from 1944. Both of these lists start again at number 1, for both the Duofolds and the Vacs. They reuse the numbers up to 100, and then go past that sequence into the 400s, plus a few more numbers in the 1100s and the 1300s. They were Parker’s numbering systems to keep the different styles and colors straight for their dealers, but they were not part of a larger model numbering scheme, and they were not compatible with the other two schemes. So instead I dug further into the repair lists. At first it seemed that the second series started with some repetitions of a few of the two-digit numbers in the first series. But if you add the number “1” in front of them, they fit into the 100s in the second scheme almost perfectly, and seem to partially bridge the gap. I say “almost” because there’s only one conflict, between the numbers 88 and 188, so the number “1” can’t be added in front. The problem with a Grand Unification Theory is this crossover period of the Duofolds and the Vacs and the depression pens. I haven’t found any suitable, or compatible numbers with which to fill in this gap, and I can safely say the two major numbering schemes are not compatible and will never be reconciled. Since I first started the list, I have divided it permanently into two parts, the First Series, and the Second Series. The second series could also be called The Modern Numbers. This is an attempt to see whether I can put together a complete list of the numbers from 1 to 1000, a much expanded and revised version of the second series of Parker model numbers. This is just an interim list, and I have made many changes to it already, so remember that it might already be outdated and full of mistakes. Here is the second series.